San Francisco Giants: Three players likely to go at the MLB trade deadline
With the San Francisco Giants likely to be sellers at the 2020 MLB trade deadline, let’s look at a few of the team’s biggest trade chips.
We’re now less than two weeks away from the 2020 MLB trade deadline and while there are many questions we are all anxious to have answered (what will the market look like? will we see a blockbuster?) it’s safe to assume that the San Francisco Giants will be sellers at this year’s deadline.
The Giants are currently 9-16, sitting ahead of only the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League in terms of winning percentage with more than 40% of the season completed.
Director of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi may not be as active this year as he was at last year’s deadline, but Zaidi still has a few pieces sure to be attractive to contending teams. We don’t know what the market will look like over the next two weeks, but if the Giants have an opportunity to add to their talent pool, no one on the active roster is untouchable and all offers should at least be considered.
Pitching is sure to be in high demand, something the Giants have. There are also a few veteran chips that could provide depth and versatility to a team in need of some late-season help. But the most likely pieces to be moved are some of the arms recently acquired by San Francisco for the purpose of building up their trade value for this moment.
Let’s look at three San Francisco Giants players likely to be moved by the 2020 deadline.
Kevin Gausman has pitched well for the San Francisco Giants this season.
When the Baltimore Orioles selected Kevin Gausman with the fourth overall pick in 2012 MLB draft out of LSU, they thought they were getting a version of the Kevin Gausman fans have seen with the San Francisco Giants, dotting his fastball at 99 mph and producing a large number of swings and misses.
Gausman was worth around 12 Wins Above Replacement in parts of six seasons with the Orioles, but never quite the lived up to his lofty expectations and was shipped off to Atlanta as part of the organizations’ 2018 teardown.
After an up-and-down tenure with the Braves and Cincinnati Reds that saw him eventually work out of the bullpen while with the Reds, Gausman found his way to the San Francisco Giants on a one-year/$9 million prove-it deal.
In five outings (four starts), Gausman is 0-1 with a 4.21 ERA, but the 29-year-old righty has pitched so much better than what those baseline numbers show.
Gausman’s FIP is more than a full run lower than his ERA (3.08), he’s striking out a career-high 11.92/9 IP, walking a career-low 1.75/9 IP, and is on pace to greatly outperform what any projection system predicted for his 2020 performance.
Whether it’s to fill out the back-end of an ailing rotation or to add a long-relief arm out of the bullpen, the Giants are sure to receive numerous calls about Kevin Gausman and what it would take to pry him away.
If San Francisco can add a talented piece or two for Gausman, his $9 million offseason contract could end up being one of the best moves of the Giants 2019 offseason. Hopefully, if a deal is to be made, it’s made soon while Gausman’s value continues to rise.
If healthy, the San Francisco Giants have some veteran pitching options that may be attractive.
In addition to Kevin Gausman, the San Francisco Giants brought in veteran pitchers Drew Smyly and Trevor Cahill to not only fill out their starting rotation, but hope they perform well enough in the first half of the season to garner some trade interest by the deadline.
Unfortunately, injuries have limited both pitchers this season so we’re going to combine them into one here and think that at least one of them is healthy enough to be delt.
Smyly, a veteran arm with playoff experience, is still recovering from a finger sprain suffered earlier this season, but has recently started to throw again and could be on his way back to a mound shortly.
Before the injury, Smyly struck out 11 hitters across 8.1 innings, giving up three earned runs on seven hits. The 31-year-old looked as if he was going to rebound well from his rough 2019 campaign, producing more groundballs that usual and having yet to allow a home run.
If Smyly can come back soon and put together one or two good outings to show he’s healthy, there could be interest from other teams in adding him. He’s owed just $4 million this season.
The same can be said for Trevor Cahill. Cahill was signed to a minor league deal last offseason and is finally on the mound after missing the first few weeks of the 2020 season with a fingernail issue.
Cahill walked four hitters in his first start last week against the Houston Astros (lasted just 1.2 innings), but looked much better in his second start. He gave up one run on four hits in four innings, striking out four and walking one against the Los Angeles Angels.
A number of bullpens across baseball have been decimated due to injuries and poor performances and Cahill has experience working successfully out of the pen. With his extremely cheap cost and veteran track record, the Giants may be able to acquire at least a lottery ticket prospect in return.
The San Francisco Giants can sell high on Donovan Solano.
At one point, it appeared that Trevor Gott was becoming a possible trade chip for the San Francisco Giants, but the former Giants closer has given up 11 earned runs in his last 1.1 innings of work. Not exactly someone who is going to fix another team’s bullpen.
There’s also valid reasons to believe Johnny Cueto or Mike Yastrzemski could be moved, but don’t count on either of them being dealt.
Cueto is having an overall decent season and coming off his best outing the year (7 IP, 2 ER, 5 K against Oakland) but you aren’t going to find a team willing to take on his big contract and it doesn’t make a lot of sense for San Francisco to eat his salary.
As for Yastrzemski, his value is at an all-time high (currently leads MLB in fWAR) but he’s making less than $1 million this season and is under team control for a few more years. He isn’t young enough to be cornerstone of a rebuilding roster, but the Giants have no reason to move him unless they get a king’s ransom in return.
There is, however, one more likely trade candidate on the roster in “Donny Barrels” Donovan Solano.
The 32-year-old utility man is hitting .400 with one home run and nine doubles through 20 games. He owns a 173 wRC+ and is currently worth 0.9 fWAR, second to Yastrzemski among San Francisco Giants hitters.
With his production at the plate this season and versatility around the diamond defensively, teams will be calling and the Giants would be smart to get something in return now before he cools off.
Next. A .400 hitter in 2020?. dark
We’ll see just how active teams will be this season, but don’t be surprised to see the San Francisco Giants make some moves as they continue to build their roster for the future.